Mr. Jagannath's Return (Translation)

Starting off the year by translating one of my favourite contemporary writers (and a very close friend) - Tanmay Mukherjee. If you enjoy reading this you may want to follow the BongPen (English) Facebook page where I try and translate some of his more 'translatable' work.

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Mr. Jagannath heaved a sigh after lighting up the cigarette from the spark at the end of the hanging rope at the Paan shop. As he put the change from the Paanwallah into his shirt pocket, he felt one last piece of that ginger candy he had purchased in the train. It's very dear to Meenu. This has been a bother since he died. The moment he sees something that Meenu loves, he can't stop tearing up.

Today marks the five year anniversary of that fateful day. Five years. Meenu has grown up so much since then. About to become a college graduate. Thankfully he gets to meet her at least for this one day a year. She has to go through so much trouble to come and meet him. He wondered about the stories she has to cook up at home for these visits. However, they can't meet anywhere besides this spot. This exact spot. Right next to Nikhil's paan shop. Sharp at 5:32 in the evening. When he had to go under the bus. In just the same way he had lit up is cigarette and was feeling for the ginger candy as he had set off to cross the road. The mild winter seemed like the perfect time to get a bit distracted. But Mr. Jagannath couldn't imagine the bus would just roll over him. What a horrible incident.

Since the following year after that he has been meeting Meenu at the exact same time at the same place. For some reason only Meenu can catch him at right this time, and Mr. Jagannath is grateful for that. They also get to chat a bit. That candy has been sitting inside the pocket for so many years, never ended up giving it to Meenu.

- Baba
- You came sweetheart? I thought....
- That I won't come?
- No, I mean...
- It's one day a year, I won't come to meet you?
- Meenu. How are your studies coming along?
- First year results are out. First class.
- First class? Fantastic stuff! Oh, how's your mother doing?
- Not too good. Keeps sobbing. But you don't start crying now!
- When did ghosts start to cry. Meenu, dear Meenu, you please don't cry. Such a short meeting. Please don't cry my child.
- When did ghosts' daughters start to cry?
- Ha ha ha
- Ha ha! Want a candy?

Gradually Mr. Jagannath started to fade and merged into the darkness.

***

- Mrs. Jagannth. The Taxi is waiting. Mrs. Jagannath!
- Hmm...
- The taxi. It is waiting.
- Oh. It is here?
- Yes Ma'am.
- They will tear down this house to build a flat, isn't it Kanai?
- Come, let's go Ma'am. It's getting dark.
- Had moved in here twenty five years back, right after my wedding.
- I know, I know. Come, let's go.
- There are so many memories tied to this place. Can you leave the memories just by leaving the house?
- Come, come.
- Of course I have to go. How will I live here anymore? The father came under the bus, and that same day the daughter had to hang herself. She didn't think of her mother even once. The house used to ring with her energy all day, those little made up stories and naughtiness. And all those pranks by the father and daughter. Where do I leave all these memories and go, Kanai?
- Ma'am, the taxi is waiting for a while now. Come, let's go.

Original (By Tanmay Mukherjee):
http://www.bongpen.net/2016/01/blog-post_38.html

Movies Roundup 2015

Did you know new year resolutions come true? Shocking, isn't it? After last year's 38% out of the 100 movies resolution, I had toned down the goal to 50 in 2015. This being the year when our first child was born even 50 seemed like a stretch till something unexpected happened. We installed a treadmill and a TV in front of it. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Very excited to have watched 53 movies (106% to target) with 26 of them actually current releases. What did take a hit was the number of theater visits, down to five through the year, three before the baby (ironically, Baby being the last) and two while the baby was vacationing with her mother. The silver lining of the gruelling 24 hour flights to India is the vast selection of new releases, so caught up on eight during a round trip, and also picked up some original DVDs (sorry Pirate Bay, it was me, not you) during the trip. Being foolish and brave again and taking up the 2016 target back to 100. You can read more about the #100moviepact here. 

Quality wise this has been a pretty good year, significantly up from 2014 and that too in spite of a stricter rating scale. Just like in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, & 2014 I made a quick note of my initial thoughts and a rating on 10, purely on how much I enjoyed the movies. As always, very keen to hear your thoughts and exchange some notes. Welcome 2016 and let the show go on!

Starting with the popular stats first, only for movies released the same year.

Year     # Seen    Hindi:English:Bangla   Top Rating  Avg. Rating

2007     32               22:10:0                           9.0             5.78

2008     30               23:7:0                             8.5             6.35

2009     24               18:6:0                             9.0             6.85

2010     25               16:9:0                             8.5             6.62

2011     22               15:6:1                             8.5             6.77

2012     28               12:11:5                           9.0             7.33

2013     28               14:14:0                           9.0             7.12

2014     16               10:6:0                             9.0             6.16 

2015     26               20:6:0                             9.0             6.55

20 Bollywood releases in a year for the first time since 2008, boom, baby! As we have a fair number of Bollywood movies to choose from, but only 6 English, we shall do a Top 5 Bollywood and a Top 3 Hollywood selection here. Criterion being the movie must have released in 2015 or I watched it in a theater in 2015 (the latter is important as otherwise some December movies fall through the cracks between the years). The full list of all 53 movies with ratings will be available below, as well as the tweet reviews of all current movies.

We will go the Miss Universe way, starting from the lower ranks up to the top. Only if there are any Colombian movies involved, please assume it's in the list due to an error. All pictures are courtsey IMDb.

English Movies

3. The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game - A brilliant man (Turing) portrayed by another genius (Cumberbatch). You know the story, yet root for the characters. 8.5/10.

2. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Birdman - Broadway extravaganza. Keaton's masterpiece with rock solid support from Stone & Norton. Dark comedy bordering on eccentric. 8.5/10

1. Inside Out

Inside Out - Imagination and creativity going where imagination and creativity come from. Spectacular and heart warming. 8.5/10

Bollywood Movies

5. Drishyam

Drishyam - A reverse whoddunit that makes you root for the perpetrators, pleasant surprise - script & story are king but acting avg. 8/10

4. Talvar

Talvar - Raises valid questions, makes you seethe with rage at the way the case has been handled so far. Irrfan & Neeraj effortless. 8/10.

3. Piku

Piku - The overtly detailed, testy, yet endearing old man, every Bengali family has this Dadu, played with elan by Big B. Deepika wins over the masses and classes. Irrfan, just brilliant as always. 8.5/10

2. Dum Laga Ke Haisha

 Dum Laga Ke Haisha - that unexpected annual low key movie that wins everyone over. Bhumi is the Queen of 2015. 8.5/10.

1. Masaan

Masaan - Movie of the year. Incredible handling of two sensitive stories. Superb acting by the ensemble cast. Watch out for @ghaywan. 9/10

Disclaimer: Among the notable movies of the year that could have made the cut I haven't watched Titli, Tamasha, and Manjhi The Mountainman.

Bridge of Spies - Outstanding work by Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, ably led by Speilberg. Chilling, honest, and edge of the seat stuff. 8/10.

The Grand Budapest Hotel - grabs your attention from get go, and doesn't let it slip. Comedy, drama & suspense play well together. 8/10

Bajrangi Bhaijan - old message of harmony delivered via a vehicle with all access pass to each heart string. Always fall for these. 7.5/10

Jurassic World - The 22 year wait was worth it. Finally a deserving successor to the movie that introduced Hollywood to many of us. 7.5/10

Bajirao Mastani - Literally epic. Sensory delight. Songs distracting. DP, PC, & RS give their best. Climax disappointing. 7.5/10

Ankhon Dekhi -Rajat Kapoor scoops out a squiggly lump of lower middle class India and its curious characters. Sanjay Mishra brilliant! 7.5/10

NH10 - Powerful performance by Anushka, with a storyline that's almost believable if you take one big leap of faith. Violence overkill. 7/10

Tanu Weds Manu Returns- the crazy, zany parts worked quite well and Kangana, get ready for the award speeches. Poor climax and message. 7/10

Baby - Another taut Neeraj Pandey thriller with India's collective fantasy played out in an Argo-inspired climax. Rasheed Naz scary! 7/10.

Badlapur - taut story, brilliant Nawaz, but Varun Woody Dhawan did no justice to the protagonist's character. Something new though. 6.5/10

Revolver Rani - quirky, dark humour, edgy, not effortless, meanders in the end, Kangana is good, but not Rani (Queen) level, hatke. 6.5/10.

Dilwale - SRK sleepwalks yet again, Kajol looks gorgeous, bullet riddled storyline, hummable music, Sanjay Mishra aces comedy. 4/10.

Dil Dhadakne Do - Pretentious, wannabe tripe by Zoya Akhtar. Don't feel for any of the characters, not even Aamir Khan the dog. 3/10

Phantom - patriotic fantasy rubbish. Senseless, directionless, mind numbing 2.5 hours. Saif tries in vain, Katrina doesn't add usual. 3/10.

Shamitabh - When creativity meets money and decides to go crazy and take the audience for granted. Leaves you insulted, and AB too. 2.5/10.

Roy - that one time where KRK  doesn't just get it spot on, but provides the no holds barred review this torture deserves. 2/10.

Bang Bang - the last sound you hear before the squelching one of your brain plopping on the ground. Clean, unadulterated tripe. 1/10.

2015 Books & Shows Review

Sometime during the past year I decided not to click on articles with clickbait headlines, you know the ones like 'This man saw a dog on the road. You won't believe what he did next'. Also, I said no to Listicles (25 things that only a 90s kid can relate to). And here I am at the end of the year making my own Top Books, Shows, Movies lists. Ah, well.

I did not end up reading a whole lot of books, but made up in quality what I messed up in quantity. Similarly for TV shows, was more deliberate about what I watched as they take up an immense amount of time, and with binge watching seasons on end it's almost like a commitment to a short term relationship.

Below are my ranking of Books (read in 2015) and TV Shows (watched in 2015).

Books

5. 'r2i Dreams - For here or to go?' By Parth Pandya, Ramya Sethuraman, and Subhashini Srinivasan

r2i = Return to India. The debut novel of 3 authors, this one struck a chord close to home given the oft discussed topic among expatriate Indians, how long or if ever? Disclosure, one of the authors, Parth, is a good friend of mine, but that has little to do with this rating as you will find out if you are in the NRI boat and read this book. Expect much more from him in the years ahead. 

4. 'Written By Salim-Javed' By Diptakirti Chaudhuri

The third book in three years on Bollywood and its doyens by Diptakirti Chaudhuri (another friend!). He was the author of my favourite book of 2014 as well - Bollybook. This one is a biographical look at the greatest storytellers of Mumbai's tinseltown - Salim & Javed. You can find the more detailed review here.

3. Sultan of Delhi - Part 1 Ascension By Arnab Ray

This is a special one as it's not launched yet. Had the privilege of reading the draft of this epic drama, set in Delhi and Kolkata over many decades. May seem like a trend by now as this is also by a dear friend - Arnab Ray better known as Greatbong, but this list has been based on nothing but merit. Arnab has authored some of the recent bestsellers in India in the humour, horror and drama genres, and having read all of his books and blog posts (yes, all 10 years+) I don't want to raise the expectations for this one too much, but let's just say it will be one of the best books to come out in India next year. The canvas is vast and Arnab has matured tremendously as a writer to tackle various socio-political subjects as well as relationships and dialogue. Look out for this one.

2. KP: An Autobiography By Kevin Pietersen

I love masala Bollywood and I love cricket. When the two meet, like in the IPL, you can just sit back and enjoy the fireworks. KP has been more open and explicit in this book, presumably read by thousands if not millions, than most of us are in our heads. If you are looking for cricket gossip, and the workings of a genius cricket mind, pick this up.

1. Norwegian Wood By Haruki Murakami

I understand I am a decade or so late on this Murakami bandwagon, but what a writer. It doesn't matter the story is that of a much younger man in a very different country and culture, you identify with the characters in a strangely familiar way. A coming of age novel by the master. He will definitely be on my To Read list in 2016.

Shows

5. Hand of God (Season 1 )

Amazon's original series about a father and judge whose son is in a coma due to an attack and how he falls for religion, or what goes by religion, in his moment of weakness and lets it overpower and control his life completely.

4. Homeland (Seasons 1-4)

Had heard about this thriller on Showtime for years now, and finally during a month of free Showtime access binge watched all four seasons in a few weeks (Season 5 is coming to an end now). Taut and gripping with some glaring plotholes, an above average show made particularly exciting in the last few episodes of season four. Some of the most goosebump raising scenes seen on TV.

3. The Man In The High Castle (Season 1)

A historical fantasy based on the novel by Phillip K Dick. It imagines a post WW2 scenario where the German and Japanese had won and the US is now divided into two regions controlled by them. Was a slow first few episodes and then upped the tempo rapidly. Can't wait for Season 2. Another Amazon Prime Original.

2. Jessica Jones (Season 1)

A superhero with the least superhero powers is the protagonist, and a female protagonist at that. A supervillain with some real powers. Extraordinary performances by the leads and sharp editing makes this otherwise middle of the road Marvel novel stand out. Krysten Ritter is here to stay, look out for her in Season 2 and beyond. A Netflix original. 

1. Narcos (Season 1)

I have always had a keen interest in South America, perhaps because it seemed so distant and different growing up in India, and also because of their disproportionate prowess in world football (soccer). Andres Escobar's shooting post the 1994 World Cup made a big impact on me and always wanted to know more about Colombia. This curiosity was magnified manifold after the brilliant ESPN 30 for 30 show on the 2 Escobars. If 30 for 30 was 10/10 this show on the dreaded Pablo Escobar is 12/10. Finished the season in 2 sittings. Won't take more than a day to finish Season 2 once it is out.